IRENAEUS OF LYONS ERIC OSBORN Honorary Professor, La Trobe University, Melbourne and Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CBRU,UK West th Street, New York, NY -,USA Stamford Road, Oakleigh, VIC , Australia Ruiz de Alarc´on , Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town , South Africa http://www.cambridge.org C Eric Osborn This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Baskerville Monotype /. pt. System LATEX ε [TB] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Osborn, Eric Francis. Irenaeus of Lyons / Eric Osborn. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN (hardback) . Christian saints – France – Lyon – Biography. Irenaeus, Saint, Bishop of Lyon. I. Title. BR.I O . 0 –dc [B] CIP ISBN hardback Contents Preface page xi List of abbreviations xvi Irenaeus: argument and imagery . Life and work . Irenaeus philosophus? . The unexpected jungle . Source criticism and conceptual bankruptcy . Content, contour and conflict . Truth and beauty: the two criteria . The four concepts . Argument and images PART I DIVINE INTELLECT One God: Intellect and love . Attributes of God: from opulence to omnipresence . Metaphysic of mind . Divine Intellect in Irenaeus . Plotinus . Knowledge, love and unity of the divine Intellect PART II ECONOMY One creator: ut sapiens architectus et maximus rex . Two analogies – wise architect and sovereign king .. Sovereign king .. Enclosing, not enclosed .. One creator, no regress .. Wise architect – word and plan vii viii List of contents .. Wise architect – the configuration of created things . Plotinus’ argument for a good creator . God needs nothing .. Creatio ex nihilo: concept without formula ( Justin) .. Creatio ex nihilo: formula without concept (Basilides) .. Creatio ex nihilo: formula and concept (Irenaeus) . Immediacy Economy: God as architect of time . Economy and divine architect .. Economy as accustoming .. Economy as progressive revelation .. Economy as the ascent of man .. Economy as polemic: history as knowledge . Trinity and the hands of God . River and movement PART III RECAPITULATION Recapitulation: correction and perfection . Recapitulation, a complex concept . Correction .. Perfection of being .. Joy in truth; perfection of truth .. Perfection of goodness .. Christology: two Adams .. Word of God .. One mediator .. Father and son .. The name . The totality of recapitulation Recapitulation: inauguration and consummation .. Inauguration of new life .. Life through the cross .. Christ as head and cornerstone .. The unity of the church . The economy of apostolic truth . New way of life . Baptism, eucharist and ministry .. Consummation: one God alone will reign .. When Christ shall come again .. Resurrection List of contents ix .. Communion and separation .. Antichrist and chiliasm PART IV PARTICIPATION Logic and the rule of truth: participation in truth . Canon and criterion . Compendium of truth . Charisma and truth . What does the rule say? . Conversion, recovery of reason, faith and sight .. Heresy .. Contemporary assessment .. Sophistry . Parody: theology for horses . Consonantia Scripture as mind and will of God: participation in truth .. From prophetic spirit to eternal word .. Mind and will of God .. Prophecy: from prediction to presence .. A rebirth of images .. The unity and truth of scripture .. Scripture and tradition .. Principles of interpretation . Images of the economy: the four Gospels .. Formation of the Christian bible .. Canon of scripture .. Typology and truth .. Typology and economy . John . Paul Aesthetics: participation in beauty . Persistence of aesthetics . A theological aesthetic? . Art and aesthetics in early Christianity . Manifestation, vision and participation .. Glory .. Criticism and difficulties . The limits of beauty x List of contents Human growth from creation to resurrection: participation in life .. Image and likeness: the puzzle .. Image and likeness: inseparable conjunction .. Image and likeness: disjunction .. Solutions to the problem: Fantino and Sesbo¨u´e .. Sin and fall, original sin .. Perfection of Adam .. Unity of man as body, soul and spirit .. Breath of life .. Spirit transforms flesh into incorruption .. Strength made perfect in weakness .. Flesh and glory . Growth through participation Goodness and truth: ethics of participation .. Free will and freedom .. Horizons of freedom .. Love of truth .. Love and natural law .. Lusts of the flesh . Martyrdom . Ethics and participation . Love of enemies as crux of recapitulation PART V CONCLUSION The glory of God and man . Humanism: saving the self . Two criteria: argument and imagery .. Optimism and growth through participation .. Participation and exchange . The immediacy of God Appendix: Gnosticism Select bibliography Citations from Irenaeus Citations from the bible Index of classical authors Index of patristic authors General index CHAPTER Irenaeus: argument and imagery . LIFE AND WORK The original Greek text of Irenaeus’ Against heresies is found only in fragmentary form, while a complete Latin translation prepared about the year has survived. There are three early manuscripts of the Latin translation, the oldest of which (Claromontanus) dates from the tenth or eleventh century. The others are later (Leydensis, Arundelianus). Erasmus’ editio princeps of Irenaeus () contains some readings not represented by any of these three manuscripts and the sources from which his variants may derive have since disappeared. Useful editions of Against heresies have subse- quently been prepared by Massuet, Stieren and Harvey.The recent edition by Rousseau, Doutreleau and others (Sources Chr´etiennes) supersedes earlier editions. Eusebius mentions another work by Irenaeus, The demonstration of the apostolic preaching, known since in a sixth-century Armenian version. Lost works include the Letter to Florinus (also known as Concerning the sole rule of God, or that God is not the author of evil ), On the Ogdoad, an attack on the Valentinian Ogdoad, which presents primitive apostolic tradition, On schism, addressed to Blastus and On knowledge, a refutation of paganism. Irenaeus intended (but did not produce) a work against Marcion (..). His writings all date from the last two decades of the second century. Most early theologians were travellers, but their movements and teachers are not always certain. Justin tells us his Palestinian place of birth and philosophical pedigree, and sets his dialogue in Ephesus; his apology and the report of his martyrdom establish that he taught According to Eusebius, H.E. ... Irenaeus of Lyons and died at Rome. Tertullian illuminates his own native setting in Carthage, but says nothing of time spent elsewhere. Clement of Alexandria tells us where he went to learn (stromateis ..)but does not name his teachers. We know a little more of Irenaeus’ personal life and history. There are limits: despite attempts to prove his non-Hellenic ori- gin, his birthplace remains uncertain. There is wide disagree- ment on the date of his birth, with estimates from those of Dodwell (AD ), Grabe (), Till´emont and Lightfoot (), Ropes (), Harvey (), to those of Dupin, Massuet and Kling (), B¨ohringer, Ziegler and others (). The most probable date lies between and . The early estimates ignore the late de- velopment of his writing. The late estimates probably make him too young for episcopacy in , when he succeeded the ninety- year-old Pothinus. Irenaeus’ claim (..) that the Apocalypse was written towards the end of the reign of Domitian († ) and near to the time of his own generation makes a year of birth much after improbable, since a generation was commonly reckoned as thirty or forty years. There is an uncertain tradition that Irenaeus died as a martyr in or during the persecution of Septimius Severus. This claim is first found () in Jerome’s commentary on Isaiah (ch. ), but not in his earlier () De viris illustribus, suggesting that the story may be an interpolation from Gallic traditions concerning the havoc of the persecution in Lyons. The church at Lyons had begun about the middle of the second century, since those arrested in included its founders. The community was originally Greek and Greek-speaking but included Romans whose Latin names occur among those of the martyrs. Irenaeus indicates a Celtic element in the church and it is clear that, although small, the community represented all social ranks. The churches of Lyons and nearby Vienne were closely related, while connections with Rome and Asia Minor were strong; but the church did not reflect the dominance of the city in the whole of A. Benoit, Saint-Ir´en´ee, introductional’´ ` etude de sa th´eologie (Paris, ), . See J. van der Straeten, ‘Saint-Ir´en´ee fut-il martyre?’, in Les martyrs de Lyon (), CNRS (Paris, ), –. The whole of this book is useful for the understanding of the historical background to Irenaeus. Irenaeus: argument